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Z is frustrated

I’ve spent a rather frustrating half hour editing the video of Eloise cat and her ball – frustrating because iVideo is a really annoying programme and it took me ages to get anywhere, and then it was still too big a clip. Pity, it was an amusing little piece.

Anyway. back to today…

It was warm and sunny yesterday, so I put the tortoises in their run. One of the Tots was nowhere to be found when I went to fetch them back. Natasha had a chilly night out, but I unearthed her this morning. I’m patient with most things unless they are computer-related, but she tested me. It wasn’t warm enough for them today so I kept them in. They’ll go out on nice days and full time from May.

I was tested again, rather more, this afternoon. I’ve been getting a lot of cold calls on my phone, to my fury. Yet, I have been pretty polite, but I get rid of the caller and block the number. I’ve been increasingly assertive however – but this afternoon’s call, to try to get me ‘compensation’ for having been mis-sold a fee-paying bank account, was the worst yet. Now actually, I’ve never had a fee-paying bank account (nor have I ever been sold payment protection, come to that) but I didn’t say that. I asked bluntly why I was being cold-called, said that the call was unwelcome and requested to be removed from their list. The man kept telling me about the *problem.* I told him again, explaining that it wasn’t his business whether or not I’d been sold this product, I was not interested in his service. He started his spiel again. This went on for two full minutes, with him not replying when I told him I wanted to be removed, but rather telling me about the ruddy *service* he was offering. I asked if the call was being recorded and he said it was – I repeated that I did not intend to talk to him and I trusted that my complaint would be logged. In the end, I had no option but to interrupt, saying I’d cancel the call and block the number, and so I have. It was from Manchester, 0161 741 4000. An hour and a half earlier, I’d had a cold call from London, 020 3137 6110. I’ve had several others this week, both on land line and mobile – the telephone preference service is useless and I hope that the government just bans the bastards, I’m more than fed up.

In every other way, things are lovely, of course. LT and I are scheming a way to give the bantams more space without letting them out. We’re ventilating the big greenhouse by either removing panes of glass or not replacing broken ones, and netting the gaps (using a staple gun and … um … netting) but we’re still scheming the tunnel between the chicken house and the greenhouse. We need help with a heavy mallet and I’ll have to phone a friend.

LT is adorable. I can’t think why he puts up with me, but he doesn’t seem to mind.

I have but I can’t be bothered to put in numbers I know and I never recognise anyone’s phone number. I also do get business calls, so I have to answer the phone, really. We don’t get political calls here though, thank goodness – that’d certainly be a vote loser.

Thank you Matt, that’s brilliant. I had another call this afternoon that rang off before I could answer it and I’ll check that out. I see that legislation is imminent that forbids companies withholding numbers, which might help somewhat, as at least one can report them.

A high percentage of such calls here(Australia) originate in Mumbai! I have some handy phrases in various languages;if I don’t get a response in that lingo I hang up.
I wanted to record “I cannot take your call now, but if you think it’s important, please leave a message.If I think it’s important I’ll call you.” But Mister Man wouldn’t let me.To be fair, he gets JP calls sometimes and I suppose it’s a bit blunt.

The Unobservant Eye of Z

Dramatis personae:
My husband, Lovely Tim or LT for short (though he is actually tall).
My late husband, the Sage, aka Russell.
My children: Dearest daughter Weeza, who has London Ways, is married to Phil. Their daughter is Zerlina Buttercup and their son is Augustus Bufo. Elder son - Al X, is married to Dilly. Their children are Squiffany Virgilia, Maximus Pugsley and Hadrian Swallow. Younger son - Ro married to Dora and their two-year-old is Rufus Russell.
Big Sister: Wink. She lives in Wiltshire, 230 miles away, but we're much closer than that.
We live with our cat Eloise, a black tortoiseshell half-Ragdoll.
Bantams live in the garden and cats live in the barns but we feed them and they have ambitions to be pets too. In addition, cows come to visit in the summer. Mostly, they stay in the fields. None of them has got a hoof in the door yet.
There is an annexe to the house, where Roses lives and her beloved, Lawrence, spends a lot of time there. Her son, Boy, lives there too.

Z’s blogroll

Updating takes too much memory, sorry - but then I'm not very young any more, so am hanging on to the memory I've got. Please don't look for any significance in the order - I'm not drunk but I am disorderly.

In case we are nostalgic

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Oh, what's the problem? This is hardly Great Literature. I'd appreciate anything taken from here being acknowledged, and I might change my mind if I'm suddenly proclaimed as the Literary Queen of the Blogosphere - but I probably wouldn't. Do what you like, just as long as it doesn't extend to defamation of anyone, even me.

Actually, you want to pass off what I say as your own, I might even be flattered. Let's face it, who cares anyway?